Unicorn & Oak Tree

Inscribed KAP F and dated 89.

Bronze with brown patina

Executed in 1989, this work is unique. It was submitted to the Her Majesty, The Queen, amongst works by other artists, for designs featuring a unicorn for a coat of arms reputedly to be used in the Houses of Parliament.

Barry Flanagan RA
Born: 11 January 1941, Prestatyn, Wales, UK
Elected ARA: 27 May 1987
Elected RA: 26 June 1991
Sculptor


Barry Flanagan was born in North Wales in 1941. A sculptor who has always retained an ironic attitude towards his medium, he oscillates between the abstract and the figurative, largely using lumps of quarried Hornton stone or marble to create his works. His hare sculptures, cast in bronze, are archetypal Flanagan, personified in a number of roles or settings, they seem anthropomorphic, despite their seemingly primitive representation and immense scale.

He studied at Birmingham College of Arts and Crafts from 1957 to 1958 and at St Martin's School of Art, London from 1964 to 1966. He taught at St Martin's School of Art and at the Central School of Arts and Crafts, London from 1967 to 1971.

Flanagan's first solo exhibition was held in 1966 at the Rowan Gallery, London, where he continued to exhibit regularly throughout the 1970s and subsequently at Waddington Galleries, London, who now represent him. He rapidly established an international reputation and has exhibited in solo shows throughout the world since 1968, including the Museum of Modern Art, New York (1974), Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris (1983) and the Tate Gallery, London (1986). In 1982 he represented Britain at the Venice Biennale with an exhibition of stone and bronze sculptures. His work has also been included in numerous key international group shows since 1966.

His first Retrospective exhibition, 'Barry Flanagan: Sculpture 1966-1976', was held at the Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, The Netherlands (1977). It toured to the Arnolfini Gallery, Bristol and the Serpentine Gallery, London. Similarly, a major Retrospective of his work was organised by Fundación 'la Caixa', Madrid in collaboration with The British Council, touring to Musée des Beaux-Arts (1993-94).

Many of Flanagan's sculpture are installed in public spaces. These works include Baby Elephant and Hare on Bell in Equitable Life Tower West, New York (1984), Nine Foot Hare, a bronze sculpture in Victoria Plaza Hotel, London (1984) and Kouros Horse in the town of Santa Eulalia, Ibiza (1992).

Among Flanagan's commissions are outdoor sculpture for Sint Pietersplein, commissioned by the City of Ghent, Belgium (1980), the sculpture Camdonian commissioned by Camden Borough Council for Lincoln's Inn Fields, London (1980) and two bronze Leaping Hare sculptures, commissioned by Kawakyo Company, Osaka for the main entrance to a hotel on the Japanese coast.

In 1995 Flanagan won the Wollaston Award for the most distinguished work in the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition with his bronze The Cricketer (1989) which has since been donated to Jesus College, Cambridge.

Flanagan lives and works in Dublin.


Recent solo exhibitions
2003 Musée d'Art moderne et d'Art contemporain, Nice
Narborough Hall, Norfolk
2000 Tate Gallery, Liverpool
1999 Galerie Xavier Hufkens, Brussels
1998 Richard Gray Gallery, Chicago
Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Salzburg
Galerie von Bartha, Basel
Crestet Centre d'Art, Valréas, France
Waddington Galleries, London
1997 Centre Cultural La Tecla Sala, Barcelona
Galerie Hans Mayer, Dusseldorf
Edicions T Galeria D'Art, Barcelona
1996 Grant Park, Chicago (organised by Richard Gray Gallery, Chicago in cooperation with the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and the Chicago Park District)
Galerie Durand-Dessert, Paris
Galleria Karsten Greve, Milan
1995-96 54th to 59th Street, New York (organised by The Avenue Association and The British Council in cooperation with Waddington Galleries, London)
1995 Gallagher Gallery, Royal Hibernian Academy, Dublin
Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Salzburg
University of Iowa Museum of Art, Iowa City
1994 The Pace Gallery, New York
Galerie Hans Mayer, Dusseldorf
Waddington Galleries, London
Richard Gray Gallery, Chicago
1993-94 Fundación 'la Caixa', Madrid; touring to Musée des Beaux-Arts, Nantes (retrospective)
1992 Galerie Durand-Dessert, Paris
Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Wakefield
Galerie Eric van de Weghe, Brussels
Landau Fine Art, Montreal
1991 Fuji Television Gallery, Tokyo
1990 Waddington Galleries and The Economist Plaza, London
The Pace Gallery, New York

Public collections
Museu van Hedendaagse Kunst, Ghent, Belgium
National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa
Musée des Beaux-Arts, Calais
City of Douai, France
FRAC Rhône-Alpes, Lyon
CEAAC, Strasbourg
Kaiser Wilhelm Museum, Krefeld, Germany
Hugh Lance Municipal Gallery, Dublin
Israel Museum, Jerusalem
Fuchu City, Tokyo
Nagaoka Contemporary Art Museum, Japan
Nagoya Museum, Japan
Setagaya Museum, Tokyo
Tochigi Prefectural Museum of Fine Arts, Japan
Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum
Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam
Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, The Netherlands
Rijksmuseum Kröller Müller, Otterlo, The Netherlands
Sintra Museum of Modern Art, Portugal - The Berardo Collection
Kunsthaus, Zurich
Ulster Museum, Belfast
Leeds City Art Gallery
Leicestershire Education Authority
Rawlins Upper School and Community College, Quorn, Leicestershire
Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool
Arts Council of Great Britain, London
British Council, London, Manchester and Madrid
Contemporary Art Society, London
Government Art Collection, London
Phoenix Community Garden, London
Tate Gallery, London
Victoria & Albert Museum, London
Peterborough Development Corporation
Southampton City Art Gallery
Baltimore Museum of Art
Beverly Hills City Council
Art Institute of Chicago
Museum of Modern Art, New York
Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
National Gallery of Art, Washington DC
Museo de Arte Contemporaneo de Caracas, Venezuela
National Museum of Wales, Cardiff

Television
1983 The South Bank Show, LWT, 23 January
1989 Self-Portrait, Channel 4, 27 August